Dixieland Sushi

March 15, 2005
Jen Nakamara Taylor didn't have a conventional childhood. In her hometown of Dixieland, Arkansas, most girls' mothers didn't serve sushi at their tenth birthday parties. As a television producer living in Chicago, she thinks she's left her childhood insecurities behind. Then she receives an invitation to the marriage of her grammar-school crush to her beauty-queen cousin. The subsequent search to find a suitable date, eventful trip back South, and the riotous wedding are all hilarious, but the real appeal of this book lies in its portrayal of a woman confronting her past and embracing her present. Each chapter begins with a platitude from " The Karate Kid"(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)